New Kansas City manager must make public safety, World Cup preparation, top priorities | Opinion

Kansas City made history with its choice for new city manager. Mario Vasquez, 54, is the city’s first Hispanic chief administrator.

Congratulations are in order here and we wish Vasquez well in his new position. It is our hope that this historic choice serves all Kansas Citians well.

But it is not lost on this board that Kansas City had a chance to hire its first woman city manager as well. Instead, Mayor Quinton Lucas chose Vasquez over acting City Manager Kimiko Black Gilmore and third finalist Patrick Klein.

While we found all three candidates well-qualified for the job — each of them has considerable experience in city government here — Lucas and the City Council must have thought Vasquez was the best choice to move the city forward. The full council approved his appointment by an 11-2 vote.

We won’t pretend to know the rationale behind this selection, but anytime an interim is passed up for the permanent job, we must ask why. Gilmore was deputy city manager under former manager Brian Platt before becoming the acting manager. If she was good enough to take over those immense responsibilities on an interim basis, why wasn’t she chosen for the job full time?

None of this is to say anything negative about Vasquez, an assistant city manager and director of city planning until his promotion this week. He’s quietly risen through the ranks at City Hall and now he assumes the task of leading our city until at least August 2027. That year, Lucas and half of the City Council will reach term limits and be out of office. And according to the job description for this position, there are no guarantees that Vasquez would remain city manager under a new mayor and council.

Here’s what we — and most Kansas Citians should agree — would like to see at the top of Vasquez’s priority list:

Public Safety

In April, voters approved a public safety sales tax extension that would fund a new city jail and rehabilitation center. That is a promising step, but the construction of that $250 million facility is years away. We have a pressing need now to figure out what to do with municipal offenders who are being sent to jails in Vernon and Johnson counties in rural Missouri.

Melinda Henneberger, a member of this board, has written extensively on the inhumane conditions and treatment some of our most vulnerable offenders have been subjected to in Vernon County. Vasquez must address this burgeoning crisis without delay.

Vasquez must also prioritize hiring a permanent fire chief.

World Cup Preparation

During the interview process for the city manager’s job, Vasquez himself admitted that Kansas City was not yet ready to host World Cup 2026 — ouch.

“With respect to the World Cup, I think we feel somewhat unprepared,” he told the City Council during the interview. “I think we have a liability with respect to that event if we don’t perform as required.”

During those talks, Vasquez added the city must fill the position of director of the Office of Emergency Management to adequately plan for the major sporting and tourism event.

The board recently met with members of KC2026, the nonprofit tasked with making global soccer and fan events run smoothly, and we discussed a need to handle public safety. But without a city jail, where are we supposed to house unruly fans who could run afoul of the law?

Vasquez and staff had better hit the ground running to address these issues and more before the world turns its collective attention on Kansas City.

Staff morale

Under Platt’s leadership, staff morale — and the city’s reputation — took a hit. We won’t bash the former city manager too much here, but he was the subject of several internal issues that led to lawsuits. Perhaps the most damning accusation that cost Platt his job was his suggestion that it was a good idea for staff to lie to the media. When former communications director Chris Hernandez pushed back against that edict, Platt demoted him. Hernandez sued the city and won. A jury awarded him almost $930,000 in damages.

Vasquez must do his best to make sure all city employees are treated with dignity and respect, and discourage staff from ever lying to the public.

Welcome to the job, City Manager Vasquez. You are now on the clock.

This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 3:34 PM.